Congressman Mike Thompson not giving up on gun control issue

Following defeat of major gun control legislation, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, had one simple response -- "(It) isn't over."

The chair of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, Thompson said the Senate's narrow 54-46 rejection of legislation requiring more extensive background checks for gun buyers is a setback but not the end of the fight.

Loss of the Manchin-Toomey Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2013 was "disappointing," Thompson said. He cited polling results indicating that more than 90 percent of those questioned want background checks for gun buyers.

"It's unexplainable, but it's not going to slow us or deter our work in regards to gun violence prevention one bit," Thompson said during a televised press conference Thursday.

The next round, he said, will involve pushing for a vote on an identical gun control bill he and Rep. Peter King, R- New York introduced into the House of Representatives on Monday.

The Senate's controversial action Wednesday came four months after a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school left 27 children and teachers dead.

Shortly after the tragedy, Thompson, a gun owner and hunter himself, was appointed to the task force to devise a plan to stem such shooting tragedies.

Meanwhile, Thompson's House bill also would require background checks for all commercial firearm sales, including those at gun shows, over the Internet, or in classified ads. It would also limit the places criminals and the mentally ill could buy guns.

Thursday, Thompson said the task force is recalibrating and moving forward.

Likewise, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who was also at the press conference, said lawmakers and others who want greater controls on guns will keep pushing for controls.

"We are not taking no for an answer," Pelosi said.

Both Pelosi and Thompson said they are worried the Thompson-King bill, H.R. 1565, will not make it to the floor for a vote after the defeat of the gun control legislation in the Senate.

Speaker of the House John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, controls what bills make it to the floor.

"We will push for a vote on this bill because the only thing more disappointing than the Senate voting against nearly 90 percent of Americans would be for the House to not vote on background checks at all," Thompson said in a prepared statement.

"Our bill is pro-gun owner, pro-second Amendment, and anti-crime. It deserves a vote on the House floor," he added.

Thompson also urged constituents to contact their elected officials and urge them to take action on gun control legislation, at least to allow a vote to occur in the House on the Thompson-King bill.

Though the gun control bill appeared stalled, at least for the foreseeable future, the Senate Thursday approved two minor amendments.

One by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., cut aid to state and local governments that release information on gun owners, and the other by Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., bolstered federal mental health programs